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Santo Trafficante, Jr.
Santo Trafficante, Jr. (November 15, 1914 - March 17, 1987) also known as "Louie Santos", "The King of Florida", "The King of Cuba", "The Real Dictator of Cuba", and "Don Santo" was an Italian-American crime lord and among the most powerful Mafia bosses in the United States. He controlled organized crime operations in Florida and Cuba, and he controlled illegal gambling, loan sharking, prostitution, pornography, bookmaking, numbers racket, drug trafficking and arms trafficking operations all over North America to places as far away as New Jersey, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Atlanta, Dallas, St. Louis, Detroit, Connecticut, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Canada, Mexico and Cuba, which had previously been controlled by his father, Santo Trafficante, Sr. for over two decades. Within only two years of inheriting his fathers criminal organization, Trafficante, Jr. turned it into a multi-billion dollar international organized crime empire with vast political power, and powerful friends within law enforcement, politics and governments worldwide. Trafficante, Jr. single-handedly built a global criminal empire, and he was making a personal income of $6 billion a year, and his criminal organization was raking in a staggering $70 billion a year. He was an incredibly rich and powerful man, who became a billionaire in the late 1950s, his greatest net worth was a staggering $25 billion as of 1986, making him one of the richest people in the world. Trafficante, Jr. was reputedly the most powerful crime lord in Batista-era Cuba, and one of the richest and most powerful people in the world. Trafficante, Jr. ruled Cuba with an iron fist, for decades. Trafficante, Jr. maintained a long-standing, loyal relationship with the Five Families and the Buffalo crime family in New York, and he also maintained major alliances and strong ties with almost every mafia family in the United States, primarily the Philadelphia crime family, Bufalino crime family, Patriarca crime family, DeCavalcante crime family, Cleveland crime family, Chicago Outfit, New Orleans crime family, Los Angeles crime family, Dallas crime family, Milwaukee crime family, Detroit crime family, Kansas City crime family and the Denver crime family. But was more closely allied with Chicago Mafia boss Sam Giancana, and New Orleans Mafia boss Carlos Marcello. Throughout Trafficante's reign as the boss of the Tampa based Trafficante crime family, he controlled almost the entire State of Florida, but he was not believed to have total control over Miami, Florida, because he shared control of Miami with the top bosses of the Five Families of New York. South Florida was a loosely knit conglomerate of New York family interests with obvious links to Meyer Lansky, Benjamin Siegel, Carlos Marcello, Leo Stein and Frank Ragano. To this day, control of Florida by organized is divided between Chicago, New Orleans, New York, and international organized crime interests. The Trafficante family was also credited for creating the language known in the old mafia days as "Tampan", which was a language of an Italian/Spanish dialect. It was spoken by the Mob mainly because the police could not understand the language. Biography Santo Trafficante Jr. was born in Tampa, Florida to Sicilian parents Santo Trafficante, Sr. and his wife Maria Giuseppa Cacciatore in 1914. He maintained several houses in Tampa and Miami, and also frequented Havana, Cuba (while Fulgencio Batista was in power), and New York City. Treasury Department documents indicate that law enforcement believed Trafficante's legitimate business interests to include several legal casinos and hotels in Cuba; a Havana drive-in movie theater; and shares in the Columbia Restaurant and several other restaurants and bars in Tampa. He was rumored to be part of a Mafia syndicate which owned many other Cuban hotels, race tracks, night clubs, restaurants and casinos. As one of the wealthiest and most powerful Mafia bosses in North America, Trafficante was invited to the Havana Conference in December, 1946. Many of Trafficante's brothers also became heavily involved in the Tampa crime family, including prominent soldier and heir apparent, Henry Trafficante. Trafficante was arrested frequently throughout the 1950s on various charges of bribery and of running illegal bolita lotteries in Tampa's Ybor City district. He escaped conviction all but once, receiving a five-year sentence, in 1954, for bribery, but his conviction was overturned by the Florida Supreme Court before he entered prison. In 1955, he was suspected of ordering the brutal murder of former Tampa crime boss Charlie Wall. In 1957, Trafficante was arrested, along with 56 other mobsters, at an apparent underworld convention, the Apalachin Meeting in upstate New York. Charges were later dropped, though authorities believe the meeting was set up, among other things, to fill the power vacuum created by the recent assassination of Murder, Inc. leader Albert Anastasia. Trafficante later denied knowledge of the circumstances of Anastasia's death. Castro and JFK Assassination Plots After Fidel Castro's revolutionary government seized the assets of Trafficante's Cuban businesses and expelled him from the country as an "undesirable alien", Trafficante, Carlos Marcello, Sam Giancana and Johnny Roselli came into contact with various U.S. intelligence operatives, including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and was involved in at least twelve unsuccessful attempts to assassinate Castro. Allusions to these historic connections were confirmed by the Central Intelligence Agency's 2007 declassification of the "Family Jewels" documents. Suspicions that Trafficante, along with Carlos Marcello, mob boss of the New Orleans crime family in the 1950s and '60s, Teamster president Jimmy Hoffa, and Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana, were involved in the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy have been alleged repeatedly but have not been proven, however it is believed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Robert F. Kennedy and dozens of other reliable sources that Trafficante, Marcello and Giancana masterminded the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, and had assistance from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Trafficante was summoned to court in 1986 and questioned about his involvement with the King's Court nightclub operated by members of the Bonanno crime family from New York, including undercover FBI agent Joseph Pistone, alias, "Donnie Brasco". Trafficante again escaped conviction. A big fan of greyhound racing, Trafficante would have his driver stop right in front of the now defunct newsstand in Britton Plaza, (Tampa) where Mr. Trafficante would emerge from the rear car door, enter, pick up his reserved copy of the racing form, drop $2 on the counter, then nod his thanks to the clerk and climb in the backseat into his car. Death Trafficante's health had declined in his older years, and he died in Houston, Texas, where he had gone for heart surgery, in 1987. He was reportedly succeeded as boss of the Tampa crime family by Vincent LoScalzo. Category:Bosses Category:Trafficante crime family Category:Florida Mobsters Category:Tampa, Florida mobsters